Rotary
Club of Santa Monica
"2001/2002 - A Rotary
Odyssey"
Rota-Monica
ISSUE NO. 26 January
25, 2002 OUR 80th
YEAR
www.RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
TROUBLE AHEAD
The president and spokesman of the American
Medical Association is broadcasting warnings of trouble ahead for most of us.
The president is a Santa Monica physician, Richard P. Corlin. He’ll be the
speaker at our Rotary meeting this Friday. His chosen topic is “Health Care in
America – The Coming Storm.”
The trouble he foresees is a shortage of
medical care all over the country – not enough doctors, not enough hospital
space, and too-costly medications. These aren’t new. For a long time, Dr.
Corlin has been in position to watch them growing. He served twelve years on
the board of trustees of the California Medical Association, and was its
president in 1992-93. Before that he was president of the Los Angeles County
Medical Association.
Dr. Corlin has also been active in the
American Medical Association for the past twenty years. He served five years as
speaker of its house of delegates, before being voted its president-elect in
2000. During this time he has been a faculty member of the UCLA School of
medicine, as well as a practicing gastroenterologist in Santa Monica, where he
lives with his wife and two sons. (In case any of us aren’t sure,
“gastroenterology” has to do with the stomach and intestines.)
Gunshot wounds, and the need for tighter laws
about guns, loom in Dr. Corlin’s mind as the most troublesome of our many future
medical problems. When he was inaugurated as AMA president, the topic of his
speech was “Gun Violence and Tort Reform,” and he’ll likely dwell on these
during part of his talk to us. Perhaps because of his work in the AMA, Dr.
Corlin is often in Washington, where he sees at close range the struggles of
government and private organizations to reverse the rising arc of health costs.
Just this week, for example, six California health plans announced what they
called an “unprecedented” effort to improve health care by enabling employers to
pass higher health-care costs directly to employees.
As AMA spokesman, Dr. Corlin fills many
speaking engagements, and is becoming noted as a vivid and informative talker.
But he always “wings it,” as he says, rather than using a manuscript. Pressed
to put the substance of his talk into a few words, he offers “rising costs of
health care.” He thinks most of us, whether as employees or entrepreneurs, may
soon be faced with the need to dig deeper. Obviously his talk should give us
food for thought.
BIG DOINGS BY ROTARACT CLUBS
Rotaract clubs may be small and young, but
they’re accomplishing terrific service projects here and there around the
world. These clubs are the Rotary-sponsored organizations at colleges. The one
at Santa Monica College is now in its third year, helped vigorously by our Bill
Crookston.
In various parts of the world, Rotaract clubs
have distinguished themselves by tackling enormous tasks and pushing them to
completion in the past few months. Here’s a sample of what they’ve done:
In India, the District 3130 Rotaract
organization determined to vaccinate 100,000 people against the hepatitis-B
virus. It went to a leading Indian pharmaceutical company, which provided
vaccines at a 35 percent discount. Then it gave lectures, slide shows, and
rallies in the district’s 20 cities. Rotarians donated the use of hospitals and
clinics for vaccinations. The result was that Rotaractors succeeded far beyond
their target, vaccinating 120,000 people while also increasing club membership.
In Argentina, the Rotaract club of Parana
realized that two public schools were sadly in need of repairs and supplies. So
the club planned a two-day affair featuring music, theater, art exhibits and a
fashion show. More than 650 local people attended. The fundraiser enabled
Rotoract to repair the run-down schools and buy equipment they needed.
In Africa, the Lubumbashi club learned that
most children were not immunized against polio. It organized a three-day
campaign and immunized 15,000 children.
After seeing a demonstration of portable
defibrillators at their meeting, the Rotaractors of Morpeth, England, realized
that lives could be saved by putting the machines in public places. Enlisting
the help of ten local organizations, the club arranged a “Fun Day” program, a
“haircut lottery” and other activities that raised enough to buy five portable
defibrillators. Each was delivered to a nearby sports center for emergency use.
A Rotoract club at the United Nations headquarters in New
York helps children in the neighborhood and also in Haiti. Locally the club
sponsors birthday parties for children at a Harlem soup kitchen, providing
gifts, party favors, art supplies, and refreshments. This has not only
increased the club’s membership but also led to the formation of a new Rotoract
club. The UN Rotoract club also supports an orphanage and a community school
near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It sends clothing, toys and books periodically, and
visits the children whenever possible.
A TREND WE NEED TO REVERSE
The book “Bowling Alone” cites studies showing
that between 1977 and 1997, the median loss of membership in 34 volunteer
service organizations was 58 percent. For example, Kiwanis lost 43 percent;
Lions – 58 percent; Masons – 71 percent, and Eastern Star – 73 percent.
The decline in Rotary membership in the U.S.
has been 25 percent over a four-year period. Much of our loss has come in our
big-city Rotary clubs. Most of these clubs were formed in the central sections
of the cities. These sections may have weakened as families moved to the
suburbs. Large clubs were the backbone of Rotary in its early development. Now
they may need strengthening. Small clubs, too, depend on strong leadership,
which may need educating and training.
What is Rotary International doing about
this? It has developed a plan called Rotary’s Global Quest, a 22-point program
that deals with many aspects of membership growth. There are now 165 Rotarians
worldwide who have been trained as experts in membership development.
CLUB MEETINGS: WHAT’S COMING
